Hodie est a.d. XIV Kal. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 6 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• Ancient walls of Bodrum’s Halicarnassus to solidify city’s identity | Daily Sabah
• Archeologia: resti capanna Età Bronzo riemersi a Udine – Friuli V. G. – ANSA.it
• Egypt uncovers remains of Roman fort in Aswan – Xinhua | English.news.cn
• The amazing story behind the discovery of Wallsend’s Segedunum Roman baths site – Chronicle Live
• Archaeological survey starts on ruined palaces of Tchogha Zanbil – Tehran Times

In Case You Missed It

• Alexandria University Launches ‘Underwater Heritage’ Initiative to Uncover Egypt’s Sunken Treasures

Greek/Latin News

• [Ephemeris] EXTERNORVM EXPVLSIO Interceptio migratoria 

Fresh Bloggery

• The Greatness of Freedom – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• Trajan’s Nymphaeum in Ephesus | Turkish Archaeological News
• Laudator Temporis Acti: Foundations of Success
• Did Gregory say that the four councils should have the same importance as the four gospels? – Roger Pearse
• AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Wissenschaft im Alten Ägypten
• Comfort Classics: Laura Frosdick – Classical Studies Support
• Roman Archaeology Blog: Iron Age Village Discovered In Essex
• Roman Times: Ancient theater in Greece and Rome
• Cranky about the State of the Country – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Smarthistory: Ancient Mediterraneanc. 3000 B.C.E. – 400 C.E.
• PaleoJudaica.com: Faust (ed.), Archaeology and Ancient Israelite Religion
• The Conquered | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
• If Only Everyone Were Like Me – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• Lockdown, photogrammetry and teaching collections | cahaeresearch
• Mike Anderson’s Ancient History Blog: The Influence of Ancient Politics on Modern Political Systems
• Missing Blog Post on Scruples – Liv Mariah Yarrow
• The end of ‘Mare Nostrum’ – The Mediterranean ceases to be a Roman lake – Novo Scriptorium

Blog-like Publications

• Norchia Necropolis – Viterbo, Italy – Atlas Obscura
• Getting Lost In Thought. I decided to read Zena Hitz’ Lost in… | by Maximus Planudes | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Fresh Podcasts

• Cyrus the Great: ‘the anointed one’ – Conversations – ABC Radio

The life and deeds of the Persian king Cyrus the Great were recorded by awestruck ancient historians. Cyrus’s life was an inspiration to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar … and he was praised in the Bible as ‘the anointed one’ for liberating the Jews of Babylon from their captivity. Today, some Israelis and evangelical Christians in the United States see fresh relevance in Cyrus’s story and have declared Donald Trump to be a modern-day ‘anointed one’

• ‎The History Of European Theatre: The Menaechmus Brothers: Hand in hand, not one before the other on Apple Podcasts

The Menaechmus Brothers is taken from a Greek new comedy original and via this version by Plautus was used by later dramatists, most notably Shakespeare. In the first half of this episode I summaries the plot that features identical twins and gets quite complicated and confusing for all concerned. I then discuss the weaknesses in the play and it’s more cynical outlook than seen in other plays by Plautus. A look at he naming of stock characters and some thoughts on the problematic female characters is followed by a look at the influence of the Saturnalia festival on the play. The theme of the identical twins is strong in the play and supported by other semantical elements in the structure and the Roman ideas of industria and voluptas.

• ‎King of Kings: Episode 11 – First Blood on Apple Podcasts

Neoptolemus betrays Eumenes in Cappadocia, while the Coalition prepares to crush Royalist resistance in Asia Minor.

• ‎The Rest Is History: 15. Walls and Borders on Apple Podcasts

From the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall, history is littered with the building of barriers aimed at keeping people out, and sometimes in. Do they work? Are they ever a good thing? Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook climb walls and explore borders as they investigate the history of separation.

• QDP Ep 166: De Moribus Mutatis – Quomodo Dicitur? Podcast

Tractantur quidam mores qui propter coniunctionem hiemis et coronaviri mutati sunt.

• ‎Accessible Art History: The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques Louis David on Apple Podcasts

In this episode of Accessible Art History: The Podcast, I venture into the world of Neoclassical art. 

• Classically Trained Podcast – Episode One: Fall of a City 1 | Free Listening on Podbean App

The first of a four part series on the Netflix original series Troy: Fall of a City, covering episode one of that show.   Two small corrections to things we said in this episode: first, women did sometimes give birth lying down. Second, there is some evidence to suggest that the Greeks did know about India as early as the Classical period (roughly the 500s BCE), but Alexander was the first substantial contact between the Mediterranean and India.

Fresh Youtubery

• The One Eyed General The Life of Antigonus I | Ancient History Guy
• Egyptian Origins of Minoan Civilization | Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Book Reviews

• [BMCR] Michael Schramm, Euripides-Rezeption in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike. Millennium-Studien, 83. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2020. 
• [BMCR] Paola Cotticelli-Kuras, Word, phrase, and sentence in relation: ancient grammars and contexts. Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes, 99. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2020. 
• [BMCR] Richard Whitaker, Douglas Reid Skinner, Gaius Valerius Catullus. Selected lyric poems: translated with an introduction and notes. Cape Town: uHlanga Press, 2020. 

Online Talks and Professional Matters

• Digging Homeric Troy: William Ewart Gladstone
• See what’s happening today in Dr Pistone’s Online Classics Social Calendar
• SCS Calendar: Classics, Ancient History, and Classical Archaeology Webinars

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

• Homeromanteion | Online Homeric Oracle
• Sortes Virgilianae (English)
• Sortes Virgilianae (Latin)
• Consult the Oracle at UCL

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends victory for the king and the people will get the upper hand.

… adapted from the text and translation of:

Jean MacIntosh Turfa, The Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar, in Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon (eds.), The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press, 2006. (Kindle edition)